The Tale of Mythia

Chapter 22: The Lady of the Candle

(Friday, 4th of Lover's Harp Moon, 2021)
Jack woke up, lying on something soft. Jack sat up and looked around, noticing that he appeared to be in some kind of guest bedroom, that was extremely empty with the only thing in the room being a bed, a nightstand, and a dresser. Jack put his hand on his forehead, and the fever was gone. Jack looked in the corner of the room to see Freya holding two axes. One of which was Giant's Path, and the other he didn't know.

"It appears the gods want you to gather all the artifacts." Freya handed Jack Giant's Path. "I don't mind though, they gave me something much better than Giant's Path."

"Where are we though?" Jack asked, and noticed that the axe Freya was holding was now gone. Could he have imagined it? No, Jack recalls the distinct red ribbon around the hilt.

"Apparently the tunnel is connected to the mansion that contains the Lady of the Candle." Freya answered Jack's question as she walked to the side of the door, where Jack's jacket was hanging on a hook and the prosthetic leg was leaning against the wall. "Weirdly enough, she doesn't want anyone else other than you to deliver it."

"Okay...I'm partially convinced this is a trap to get me stabbed for no reason." Jack moved himself to the edge of the bed. "Can you hand me my leg? I feel like this floor will shatter if I jump on it."

"Oh yeah, catch." Freya grabbed Jack's prosthetic leg and tossed it to him, and Jack caught it using both hands. "Before you get 'stabbed' by the Lady of the Candle, the head of what remains of El Tarot Familia would like to speak to you."

"The head of who?" Jack didn't understand what Freya was saying, so she had to break it down for him to understand.

"El Tarot Familia, it's the official name of the Lady of the Candle's royal guard." Freya watched as Jack put his leg back on. "Apparently, 20 family members and their spouses were killed in 12/12/12, leaving behind only their respective cards. The only two remaining members are the Emperor and Empress, but they're old to have offspring of their own."

"So...once they die, the Lady of the Candle will be defenseless again, right?" Jack asked the girl, who nodded. "Damn, that must suck.

"The tarot cards that gave their power to the family won't work without the Lady's divine gift, yet she refuses to activate them." Freya shrugged as you walked to the door. "Go talk with the Last Head of the Familia, see what she needs before delivering this."

Freya handed Jack the box with the candle in it, and Jack opened the box to see if the candle was still there. Jack saw the candle inside the box and closed the lid before leaving the room. Jack then entered a new room, a massive one at that. The new room had faded, baby blue walls that extended 3 meters up, where they met the ceiling. There was a strip of ceiling that extended straight down the middle of the rectangular room, extending from one end to the other. This strip of ceiling extended another meter or two upwards. Instead of the blue walls, the walls of the extended strip consisted of stained glass windows, with one side depicting 11 major arcana tarot cards and the other side depicting the other 11. Weirdly enough, there was some kind of clothesline with a pulley attached to one wall, with the wire going straight through the whole length of the strip, only to disappear into the dark abyss that was a window-like hole in the wall of the strip. Jack couldn't see inside the hole, but there was something Jack could see.

The faint light of the candle.

"You know, it's bad luck to look directly at the Lady of the Candle." Back at the ground, Jack saw an elderly man with a mustache sitting at a long dining table with 22 chairs. He sat in one of the end chairs, while an elderly woman sat in the opposite one. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Archeologist, my name is Eddy, and that over there is my older sister, Maria. She's the head here."